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Thursday, July 28, 2011

Conversations with a Seven-Year-Old

KID: I can't sleep by myself tonight. I'm scared.

MOTHER: Of what?

KID: I'm scared that a black hole will swallow the Earth before humans master interplanetary space flight. I'm scared that all the people living on Earth will die, and civilization will be destroyed, and maybe then there will be no intelligent life left anywhere in the universe. I'm scared that the universe itself will one day run out of energy and grow cold and dark and empty.

MOTHER: You've really missed your father while he's been out of town, haven't you?

KID: Yes.